When Moderating Comments, Diversity Matters

Have you ever come across a comment on a news story that you knew should not be there? I’m specifically talking about on websites where the comments are moderated.

We already know that a large percentage of comments on newspaper websites are not moderated by humans, but simply vetted by a filter which can only do so much against the clever commenter’s of today who are intent on spewing hate and pushing their crude agendas. So, when you see those types of comments on those type of websites, you’re usually not shocked.

But, comments on certain types of stories can make it past the best team of moderator’s when the moderator isn’t well-versed on the topic or is faced with some other “barrier to entry.”

That barrier can be cultural or racial. It can be caused by a generation gap, geographical differences and even personal backgrounds.

It’s important to remember that news stories are extremely diverse and the content runs the gamut.

So, much like news organizations have strived to build newsrooms that reflect the community, it’s important that those who are now dealing with content submitted by the community have diverse backgrounds as well, so that they can work to decipher what is being said, and whether or not it’s appropriate.

In my next post, I will share several resources that moderator’s can turn to when faced with unknown acronyms, clever slang and other types of content and innuendo that’ likely not the type of content you’d want affiliated with your organization.

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This is a personal blog. The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer.
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